Timeline: intervention in the US housing market

The US government has now controlled the country’s two main housing finance groups for over five years.

But since the bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in 2008 – one week before the collapse of Lehman Brothers – the recovery has progressed more quickly than anticipated and the two housing companies are on track to return a profit to the government.

This has sparked a bitter dispute about who should benefit from the turnround. Here is how the recovery unfolded: